New Site Development – Eastman, GA

For those of you who haven’t heard the exciting news, AgroLiquid has announced the addition a new property in the southeast. This is an 18 acre developed site which means driveways, parking lots, buildings, and utilities are already in place. A minimal amount of remodeling of an existing building will need to occur to make it fit our needs. In addition to remodeling the building, we will also be installing a rail spur adjacent to the main line which is owned and operated by Norfolk Southern Rail Road. The timeline for distribution from this location will be determined by sales growth in the southeast. From a development standpoint, this facility should be much easier to bring online because of the climate difference (very few freezing days) from our facilties up north. That’s my glass half full perspective. Now for the glass half empty perspective: gnats, fire ants and humidity. Oh, and the entire state shuts down at the hint of snow. At any rate, the pro’s heavily outweigh the con’s and this will be a very important site as AgroLiquid’s presence grows in the south.

Gated Entrance

The Front entrance to the property is nicely groomed with some ornamental trees and shrubs complete with an irrigation system. This decorative fence, which you can’t see because it’s open, will also add a bit of security to the site. Not that we need to worry about the easy going southern folks down there.

Front facade of building.

Although it doesn’t face either road on the left or right, this is the most decorative side therefore designated as the front. The rail road main line is on the right side of the building. The edge of the building that’s barely visible on the left hand side of this photo is a bonus building that will be used for something not exactly known yet.

40×60 Storage Building

Here’s a better of view of that building mentioned in the previous photo. Just in front of the building you can see an exterior load dock. Or maybe you can’t see it, but trust me it’s there. You can at least make out the yellow railing.

Side View

A side view of the building. I think I’m facing west so that would make this the east side. The building is square with the rail road tracks and they didn’t point them directly north and south so it throws me off. Not to mention, it’s overcast so my sun dial wasn’t working. As you can see, this building has lots of doors so we have many options as to how we decide to set it up for traffic flow.

Front Yard

As you can see here, we have lot’s of lawn to mow. I anticipate some day we’ll have some large tanks sitting somewhere in this vicinity. That’ll cut down on mowing expenses but we’ll have more to trim around. Another obvious landmark you may have noticed is the conveniently located Eastman water tower. Water and water pressure won’t be a problem here.

Fire Ants!!

Oh and the site comes complete with our own ant farm. The dark sand in the middle would be fire ants. Many of these mounds were to be found so if you make a site visit, keep your shoes on and tuck your pants into your socks. An interesting thing I learned about these guys is they not only bite, they also sting. They bite only to get a grip and then sting, injecting a toxic alkaloid venom. Thousands of them will do this in unison which is how they prey on small animals. For humans this is a painful sting similar to the sensation of getting burned by fire – hence the name fire ant.

Rail Road Tracks

Here’s the Norfolk Southern main line running along the west side of the building. The new rail spur will run right about where the lone tree is on the left side of the tracks. Highway 341 is on the right hand (west) side of the tracks giving the site great visibility from that direction.

I’m standing just outside the back door so you can see how close the track is to the building. This will make it more efficient for plumbing because of the short pipe runs to the rail. The purchase of this site was a proactive decision based on the philosophy of intentional growth. Having the resources in place prior to needing them is much better (in a proactive sense) and easier than developing a site we need desperately. Not to mention, it makes for a happier customer.

It’ll be awhile yet. We need to construct a rail spur and the process takes some time. We’re anticipating 10-12 months. You can watch our website to see any job postings for the Eastman site and other areas around the county. http://www.agroliquid.com/about/employment/